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Impacts of the Great Recession on sport: evidence from English Football League attendance demand
[US household tourism expenditure and the great recession: an analysis with the consumer expenditure survey]

Author

Listed:
  • Babatunde Buraimo
  • Giuseppe Migali
  • Rob Simmons

Abstract

This article investigates the impact of the 2007–9 Great Recession on attendance demand in the English Football League. We identify causal effects of variations in local unemployment rates on club matchday attendances using a difference-in-difference methodology applied to specific treatment and control group clubs categorized according to severity of local unemployment increase during the recession period. We find that treatment clubs in Tiers 3 and 4 suffered an attendance reduction of 10.5% purely through rising unemployment in local Travel to Work Areas containing clubs’ stadia after controlling for a large set of confounding influences. Smaller but still significant effects are found in alternative specifications, including the incorporation of Tier 2 clubs into the analysis.

Suggested Citation

  • Babatunde Buraimo & Giuseppe Migali & Rob Simmons, 2022. "Impacts of the Great Recession on sport: evidence from English Football League attendance demand [US household tourism expenditure and the great recession: an analysis with the consumer expenditure," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 74(1), pages 155-177.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:oxecpp:v:74:y:2022:i:1:p:155-177.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/oep/gpaa055
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    Cited by:

    1. J. James Reade & Jan C. Van Ours, 2023. "How sensitive are sports fans to unemployment?," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(3), pages 324-330, February.
    2. Dirk Semmelroth & Bernd Frick & Robert Simmons & Hojun Sung, 2022. "Where to Go Next? Examining the Effect of Franchise Expansion and Location on Game-Level Attendance in Major League Soccer," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 23(5), pages 524-547, June.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • L83 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Sports; Gambling; Restaurants; Recreation; Tourism
    • Z21 - Other Special Topics - - Sports Economics - - - Industry Studies

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